I noticed a rules change from the rules that came in my cardboard WiFFE game that I ordered 4 years ago and one of the download versions of RAW from the ADG site. The discrepancy has to do with the conquest of Italy. According to the WiFFE rules that come in the box, the Allies have to meet 3 out of 4 conditions to conquer Italy. The four conditions being: Occupy Tripoli, Occupy Rome, Occupy another printed factory hex and higher garrison value. Then, maybe a year or two ago I printed out a RAW download from ADGs site. In that copy it added a 5th condition (occupy Addis Ababa) and the Allies had to meet 4 out of 5 conditions. I just logged on to the ADG site from the previous post and noticed that the Italy conquest rule is back to the original 3 out of 4 conditions to conquer Italy, with the Addis Ababa condition absent (again)! I would think that I must have imagined this...but I printed out the RAW with the 4 out of 5 conditions and it is sitting right in front of me now. Did anyone else notice this change...and then change back? Very curious.

I noticed a rules change from the rules that came in my cardboard WiFFE game that I ordered 4 years ago and one of the download versions of RAW from the ADG site. The discrepancy has to do with the conquest of Italy. According to the WiFFE rules that come in the box, the Allies have to meet 3 out of 4 conditions to conquer Italy. The four conditions being: Occupy Tripoli, Occupy Rome, Occupy another printed factory hex and higher garrison value. Then, maybe a year or two ago I printed out a RAW download from ADGs site. In that copy it added a 5th condition (occupy Addis Ababa) and the Allies had to meet 4 out of 5 conditions. I just logged on to the ADG site from the previous post and noticed that the Italy conquest rule is back to the original 3 out of 4 conditions to conquer Italy, with the Addis Ababa condion absent (again)! I would think that I must have imagined this...but I printed out the RAW with the 4 out of 5 conditions and it is sitting right in front of me now. Did anyone else notice this change...and then change back? Very curious.

John

I wasn't playing WIF during that period, nor reading the rules.

It would make conquering Italy a harder task to accomplish in CWIF/MWIF because Addis Ababa is inland, similar to playing with the Africa map in WIF FE.

If anyone's interest some kind (yet zealous) soul from the WIF List formatted the RAW-7-AUG04 just as they appear in the rule book that comes with the game. They even made sure the page numbers match and the diagrams are correct. If you provide an FTP site I'd be happy to upload it, or you can check the list (groups.yahoo.com/groups/wifdiscussion).

This is all before the units are randomly drawn and assigned to restricted setup locations (e.g., European ports controlled by Germany but not bordering on the Mediterranean or Black Seas). All named naval units have to be assigned a specific place and time for setup. One small mistake is fatal to the setup process.

The sequence of everything is crucial too. Setting alignments, conquest, and changing control of hexes (e.g., how far into China Japan has gotten) needs to be done in the right order.

WIF is not like other games where you simply pick out a bunch of units and set them up on your side of the board, while the opponent sets his up on his side of the board. You basically have to review all 238 countries/territories, sometimes going down to the hex level within some of those countries, figure out the political status of each country vis-a-vis the major powers, and then go through all the units for each major power and all the minor countries that are active at the start of the scenario.

It's basically a bear to do, with inevitable mistakes that have to be corrected as they come to light. There is a very good reason why CWIF only contained 3 of the 11 scenarios.

Writing a routine that automates this process is pretty daunting. It is a hodge-podge of variables that have to be set. All the comments above are mine (the code I inherited had none). I modified the code to use the 'case' statement to provide some structure (by scenario) for the Set Relations routine. Most of the other routines do not lend themselves to simple structures - each scenario contains some unique items that no other scenario has.

Days of Decision III (if I ever get around to that as a future MWIF product) might provide some more structure, simply because the political relationships are more fully developed in the that simulation.

The requirement to conquer Italy no longer includes Addis Ababa. It was changed back to the 3 out 4 conditions it used to be: Control of Tripoli, control of Rome, control of any Italian Factory hex other than Rome, Higher garrison number than Italy in Italy.

I noticed a rules change from the rules that came in my cardboard WiFFE game that I ordered 4 years ago and one of the download versions of RAW from the ADG site. The discrepancy has to do with the conquest of Italy. According to the WiFFE rules that come in the box, the Allies have to meet 3 out of 4 conditions to conquer Italy. The four conditions being: Occupy Tripoli, Occupy Rome, Occupy another printed factory hex and higher garrison value. Then, maybe a year or two ago I printed out a RAW download from ADGs site. In that copy it added a 5th condition (occupy Addis Ababa) and the Allies had to meet 4 out of 5 conditions. I just logged on to the ADG site from the previous post and noticed that the Italy conquest rule is back to the original 3 out of 4 conditions to conquer Italy, with the Addis Ababa condition absent (again)! I would think that I must have imagined this...but I printed out the RAW with the 4 out of 5 conditions and it is sitting right in front of me now. Did anyone else notice this change...and then change back? Very curious.

John

This was an editor's error (a leftover from a previous suggestion). Addis was removed and really never was required to conquer Italy.

I've successfully downloaded the three items in Post 1, including the 30 Set-Up spreadsheet. But where can I find details of Minors' initial forces, force pools and deployment limits?

Thus, I read in the Global War notes that Finland starts with only three corps, but I think I saw somewhere that there are eight actual Finnish units in the counter-set. I'd like to find out what these are, and what deployment limits they are restricted by (if any).

I imagine all the Minors are documented in one place, but at the moment I can't find them.

I've successfully downloaded the three items in Post 1, including the 30 Set-Up spreadsheet. But where can I find details of Minors' initial forces, force pools and deployment limits?

Thus, I read in the Global War notes that Finland starts with only three corps, but I think I saw somewhere that there are eight actual Finnish units in the counter-set. I'd like to find out what these are, and what deployment limits they are restricted by (if any).

I imagine all the Minors are documented in one place, but at the moment I can't find them.

Minors do not have "initial forces" per see. Minors have a countermix, with a number of dated units. There simply is a rule that says that when a minor is activated in a given year, all units of that the previous year and the previous ones are setup on the map. Here is an example :

So, in 1939 you setup all the 1938 and before units, and you put on the reinforcement track the units from 1940. If Poland survives in 1940, and if its controlling major power decides to include Poland's force pool in its force pool, then its controller may build Polish units (randomely picked amongst all his units).

For the Air units this is similar except that the PiF sourced air units are never present at setup. For the Naval units, this is similar ecept that this is the units that are 2 years old that are setup, and units from the current and previous years are in either the production circle or the construction pool.

I notice that, in the 30 SetUp, Graf Spee and Deutschland start in Europe, as do Exeter, Ajax and Cumberland (with no sign at all of HMNZS Achilles). Publicity for Cruisers in Flames includes the enticing promise that we can now fight the Battle of the River Plate ... so presumably these ships are allowed to start in the Atlantic? Is this correct?

I notice that, in the 30 SetUp, Graf Spee and Deutschland start in Europe, as do Exeter, Ajax and Cumberland (with no sign at all of HMNZS Achilles). Publicity for Cruisers in Flames includes the enticing promise that we can now fight the Battle of the River Plate ... so presumably these ships are allowed to start in the Atlantic? Is this correct?

It's not unfortunately. Combat ships of neutral countries must return to base at the end of the turn, so can't be at sea at the beginning of the next turn. Thus the Graf Spee is in Germany at the start of S/O39.

BUT, this does not prevent you from moving it during the first impulse when you are at war with the CW, and initiate searches. The WiFZen will be that it sailed just before the outbreak of the war.

Here's a wrinkle I noticed in the rules. France and the Commonwealth do not declare war on Germany until their first impulse, which means that during the very first impulse of the game Germany is at war only with Poland. If Germany takes a Combined Action (probably not a good idea, but hey ... this is just theory), she could sneak Graf Spee and Deutschland into the Atlantic the quick way, straight out down the English Channel, without fear of naval interception (I presume Germany, peculiarly, counts as a major neutral for just this one impulse and so is limited to two ships rather than two task forces).

By the end of the turn, Germany will be at war with the Commonwealth and France, so will be free from the neutral's restriction of returning to port.

I hope Cruisers in Flames at least includes the facility to end a turn in a neutral port like Montevideo, as permitted by the Geneva Convention, provided the vessel puts to sea at the start of the next turn?

Here's a wrinkle I noticed in the rules. France and the Commonwealth do not declare war on Germany until their first impulse, which means that during the very first impulse of the game Germany is at war only with Poland. If Germany takes a Combined Action (probably not a good idea, but hey ... this is just theory), she could sneak Graf Spee and Deutschland into the Atlantic the quick way, straight out down the English Channel, without fear of naval interception (I presume Germany, peculiarly, counts as a major neutral for just this one impulse and so is limited to two ships rather than two task forces).

By the end of the turn, Germany will be at war with the Commonwealth and France, so will be free from the neutral's restriction of returning to port.

Most german units are already in position around Poland and few attacks are needed, so a Combined is usually sufficient in the first impulse. As well, since Germany is not at war with a major power a Combined move is manditory (although many games forgo this requirement in the first impulse, with Rule 10.1 option, etc).

In general though, most German players will leave the fleet in port or in the Baltic til later in the turn, since being surprised at sea during the surprise impulse can see your navy beat up pretty badly.

quote:

I hope Cruisers in Flames at least includes the facility to end a turn in a neutral port like Montevideo, as permitted by the Geneva Convention, provided the vessel puts to sea at the start of the next turn?

Only the German Raiders (CX) have the option of entering neutral ports.

Here's a wrinkle I noticed in the rules. France and the Commonwealth do not declare war on Germany until their first impulse, which means that during the very first impulse of the game Germany is at war only with Poland. If Germany takes a Combined Action (probably not a good idea, but hey ... this is just theory), she could sneak Graf Spee and Deutschland into the Atlantic the quick way, straight out down the English Channel, without fear of naval interception (I presume Germany, peculiarly, counts as a major neutral for just this one impulse and so is limited to two ships rather than two task forces).

It is even limited to 1 ship rather than 1 task force, in a combined action. Except this, all you wrote is right. But see below.

quote:

By the end of the turn, Germany will be at war with the Commonwealth and France, so will be free from the neutral's restriction of returning to port.

There is a problem here, that is by the end of the turn, the ships who crossed the Channel to the Atlantic will be unable to return to base because of the lengthned way around the UK, and so by RAW will be destroyed. So the German can't do that, or must put his ships 1 section lower than their maximum so that they can return to base on a longer route.

quote:

I hope Cruisers in Flames at least includes the facility to end a turn in a neutral port like Montevideo, as permitted by the Geneva Convention, provided the vessel puts to sea at the start of the next turn?

This is allowed for CX only (Raiders such as the Pinguin, Kormoran, Michel... -- there are 10 of them).